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Description
From the very first hours of the war in Ukraine, false information and comments have appeared on social networks and media channels to justify Russia''s aggression. The analysis of the messages and their sources shows a convergence between the supporters of aggression and the promoters of conspiracy theories related to COVID19, those who deny climate change, those who support the so-called "traditional" values ("defended" by Putin) versus the denial of rights for different types of vulnerable minorities (presented as a form of "decadence of the West"). The effects of false information are already visible in a few European countries, where populists and extremist groups have greatly increased their support based on such messages.
The project aims to contribute to balancing out the situation by engaging citizens in monitoring and reporting false information, by disseminating demystifying messages through its own channels (Clean Romania platform, FB and Instagram groups of SAR, people involved in the project, newsletters), but also by training journalists, respectively communication managers from NGOs in recognizing manipulative messages and in acquiring the capacity to debunk them. We foresee drafting and publishing over 100 journalistic articles, distributing them through approximately 40 newsletters and including them in general newsletters sent by Clean Romania (9,000 emails), dissemination on the FB page (app. 53,000 likes), on Instagram and on pages of the collaborators involved in the project (over 200,000 followers), organizing a debunking training for journalists and communication managers from NGOs, drafting a demystification index and analytical dissemination of the project results.
Summary of project results
The project aimed to tackle the issue of false information on social networks and media channels related to the war in Ukraine .
The project organized an online training session on debunking false information, with 22 participants, drafted and published about 80 journalistic articles related to the war in Ukraine, distributing them through approximately 60 newsletters (project specific and general Clean Romania ones) and social media channels. Also, in the last part of the project, a Guide on Disinformation and Demystification was drafted and released, containing the debunking of 25 daily myths, and an online debate (final event) engaged around 50 participants.
Overall, through the awareness campaign implemented, the audience of the articles and the Guide, reached over 1.300.000 people
The project trained 22 people (jornalists, academia, NGo staff) on detecting false information.
80 journalistic articles related to the war in Ukraine were published, mainly by the projects team but also by some collaborators that were activated through the project.
In total, 65 people were engaged directly in the project while the awareness campaign (both articles and the Demystification guide) reached over 1.3 million people. This shows a high interest of the public and also its availability to read more in depth articles.
The final debate is also available on youtube.